The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-10-07

OF only two well TO do men who espoused bis
cause icodemus and Joseph of Arimathea
His friends for the most part were people
who, in that climate where ophthalmy or in
fammation of the eyeball sweeps ever and
anon as a scourge, had become blind, sick
people who were anxious to get well, and
troubled people in whose family there was
some one dead or dying II he had purse
at all it was empty, or we would have heard
what was done with the contents at the post
norton. Poor? The pigeon in the dove cote,
the rabbit in its burrow, the silk worm in its
cocoon, the bee in its hive, is better provided
| for, better off, better sheltered. Aye, the
brute creation has home on earth, which
Christ has not
If on windy days the raven
Gambol like dancing sliff,
Not the less he loves his haven
On the bosom OF the cliff.
If almost with eagle pinion
Ger the Alps the channels roam,
Yet he has some small dominion
Which no doubt he calls his home.
But the Crown Prince of all heavenly do
minion has less than the raven, less than the
channels, for he was homeless. Aye, in the
history of the universe there is no other in
stance of such coming down. Who can count
the miles from the top Of the throne to the
bottom OF the cross2 Cleopatra, giving q
| banquet to Antony, took a pearl worth
| 800 900 and dissolved IL in vinegar and
swallowed it. But when our Prince, accord
| ing to the evangelist in his last hours took
the vinegar, in it had been dissolved all the
pearls of his heavenly royalty Down until
there was no other depth for him to touch,
troubled until there was no other harass-
ment to suffer, poor until there was no other
pauperism to torture. Billions Of dollars
spent in wars to destroy men, who will fur
nish the statistics Of the value of that pre-
cious blood that was shed to save us2 aye
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that, though ne was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor"
Only those who study this text 10 two
places can fully reach its power-the Holy
Land of Asia Minor and the holy land of
heaven. How should like some day to take
q drink out of Jacobs well. and take a sail
on Galilee, and read the Sermon on the Mount
while standing on Olivet, and see the wilder
ness where Christ was tempted, and be some
afternoon on Calvary at about 8 o'clock,
the hour at which closed the crucifxion, and
| sit under the sycamores and by the side of
| the brooks and think and dream and pray
| about the poverty Of Him who came our
souls to save. But you and I will probably
be denied that, and so here, III another conti-
nent and in another hemisphere, and in scenes
as different as possible, We recount as well
we may how poor our heavenly prince be-
came And in the other holy land above we
may all study the riches that he left behind
when he started for earthly expedition.
Come, let us bargain to meet each other at
the door of the Fathers mansion, or on the
bank of the river just where it rolls from
under the throne, or at the outside gate.
Jesus got the contrast by exchanging that
world for this; we will get it by exchanging
this world for that. There and then you will
understand more of the wonders of the grace
! of our Lord Jesus Christ who, 'though he
was rich, yet for your sakes became poor"
| Yes grace, free grace, sovereign grace,
omnipotent grace. Among the thousands of
words of the language there is no more queen
ly word 1t means free and unmerited kind
ness. My text has no monopoly of the word.
One hundred and twenty mine time does the
| Bible eulogize grace. 1t is door swung wide
open to let into the pardon of God all the
millions who choose to enter it.
John Newton sang of it when he wrote:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved wretch like mel
Philip Doddridge put it into all hymnology
when he wrote:
Grace! It's a charming sound,
Harmonious to the ear;
Heaven with the echo shall resoun
And all the world shall hear.
One of John Bunyan's great books is en-
titled Astounding Grace" sit is all of grace
that am saved" has been on the lips of hun
dreds of dying Christians The boy Sammy
was right when, being examined for admis-
sion into church membership, he was asked:
"Whose work was your salvationY" and he
answered: "Part minesand part Gods" Then
the examiner asked: "What part did you do,
Sammyp and the answer was: IL opposed
God all l could, and he did the rest" Oh,
the height of it, the depth Of it, the length of
it, the breadth of it, the grace of GodI Mr..
Fletcher having written a pamphlet that
pleased the king, the king offered to compen-
safe him, and Fletcher answered: "There is
only one thing l want, and that is more
| grace" Yes, my blood bought hearers, grace
to live by and grace to die by. Grace that
saved the publican, that saved Lydia, that
saved the dying thief, that saved the jailer,
that saved me. But the riches of that grace
will not be fully understood until heaven
breaks in upon the soul. An old Scotch
man, who had been a soldier in one of the
European wars, was sick and dying in one
Of our American hospitals. His one desire
was to see Scotland and his old home,
and once again walk the heather of
the Highlands, and hear the bagpipes
Of the Scotch regiments. The night that the
old Scotch soldier died young man, some
what reckless but kind hearted, got a COM
pany Of musicians to come and play under
the old soldiers window, and among the in
struments there was bagpipe The instant
that the musicians began the dying old man
delirium said: %What's that2 what's that
Why, it's the regiments coming home. That's
the tune; yes, that's the tune. Thank God,
lave got home once more" "Bonny Scotland
and Bonny Doom" were the last words he ut
cred as he passed up to the highlands Of the
| better country. And there are here today
hundreds homesick for heaven; some because
you have so many bereavements, some be-
cause you have so many temptations some
because you have so many ailments; home.
sick, very homesick, for the fatherland of
heaven, and the music that you want to hear
now is the song of free grace, and the music
you want to hear when you die is free grace,
and forever before the throne Of God you
will sing of the "grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who, though he was rich, for your
sakes became poor"
Yes, yes; for your sakesl IL was not on
pleasure excursion that he came for it was
| all pain. 1t was not on astronomical explor-
noAOA1 lOA h0 AHo" ILLS WOFIu rs we'll before
he alighted as afterward 1t was not because
be was compelled to come, for he volunteered
1t was not because it was easy, for he knew
that 1t would be thorn, and spike, and hun
ger, and thirst, and vociferation of angry
mobs. For your sakesl Wipe away your
tears. To forgive your wrongdoing, to com.
partnership your loneliness, to soothe your
sorrows, to sit with you by the new made
grave, to bind up your wounds in the ugly
battle with the world and bring you home at
last, kindling up the mists that fall on your
dying vision with the sunlight of glorious
morn. For your sakes! No, will change
that. Paul viii not care, and Christ will not
care il / change it, for / must get into the
blessedness of the text myself, and so say:
"For our sakes" For we all have our temp
tations, and bereavements, and conflicts |
For our sakesl We who deserve for our sins |
to be expatriated into world as much poorer |
than this earth was poorer than heaven. For |
our sakesl
But what fruitful coming down to take |
as gloriously up. When Artaxerxes was |
hunting Tirebazus, who was attending him, |
showed the king a rent in his garment The |
king said: How shall mend itg' "By Civ |
ing 1t to me, said Trebazus. Then the king |
gave him the robe, but commanded him never |
to wear it as it would be inappropriate. See |
the startling and comforting fact, while our |
Prince throws of the habit he not only allows |
US to wear it, but commands us to wear it, |
and it win become us well, and for the power |
ties Of our spiritual state we may put on the |
splendors of heavenly regalement. For |
our sakes! Oh, the personality Of this re-
ligionl Not an abstraction, not an |
arch under which we walk to behold |
elahorata masonry not An fca castla Hka /